A commentary on the case of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, convicted of the murder of 270 people in the Pan Am 103 disaster.

Tuesday, 30 July 2013

In search of truth

[This is the heading over a letter from Iain McKie published in today’s edition of The Scotsman. It reads as follows:]The Edinburgh Festival Fringe consistently surprises, delights and sometimes disappoints, but without it our culture would be poorer and a powerful medium for political expression would be lost to the people of Scotland.While entertaining, the Fringe, as part of this remit, has a duty to challenge the status quo and make us ponder on issues of the day.This year two major issues, the ongoing independence debate and the [21 December 25th] anniversary of the Lockerbie Pan Am bombing, are tackled in The Lockerbie Bomber, a new play presented by Falkirk’s Tryst Theatre Company.Dramatic, insightful and superbly acted and presented, it forces us to remember and reflect on the greatest terrorist outrage ever committed in the UK.It is also a reminder that despite the human suffering and the political expressions of outrage, governments, including ours in Scotland, have procrastinated, dissembled and protected the guilty by placing their own interests above those of the victims, their families and friends and the people of Scotland.The play challenges the viewer to consider how an independent Scotland can ever be a stronger and better country when our politicians cannot “independently” work to resolve what has become “Scotland’s shame”.The Lockerbie Bomber has lived in my memory and challenged me, a supporter of independence, to reflect on whether an independent Scotland would lead to a more just society or sadly just more of the same.The irony that the play is showing in C Venues in Chambers Street, the very home of the Crown Office, that immovable barrier to the truth about Lockerbie, will not be lost on those of us who seek truth and justice.

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The hit counter that I have been using has given up the ghost. From now on, I shall periodically disclose here the total number of pageviews from July 2010, as provided by blogspot/blogger. As at 09.00 GMT on 08 Febuary 2018, the pageviews numbered 1,700,288.

unique visitors since 2200 on 13 Nov 09

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Readers are invited to comment on blog posts. All comments require to be pre-moderated by me, and I shall reject all (a) that are not related to the Lockerbie disaster or (b) that fail to meet my -- perhaps idiosyncratic -- standards of courtesy towards other contributors. Comments will not be rejected simply because I disagree with them or because I, or other contributors, find them irritating. But comments will be rejected if they distort or misrepresent the evidence; are defamatory; or if they risk embroiling me, as publisher, in defamation proceedings. I am perfectly relaxed about being sued in respect of material which I personally have posted -- but not in respect of material that others wish to post as comments and which, in any case, I often strongly disagree with.

Particularly during my sojourns in South Africa, it may not be possible for me to perform the moderation function speedily. I regret the necessity of moderation but it has been rendered inevitable by the behaviour of a particular commentator whose contributions will always and without exception be rejected.

No correspondence will be entered into regarding moderation decisions.

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If you have news or views about the Lockerbie case, you can contact me at rblackqc@outlook.com